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LOT 0115
Italic Banded Agate Scarab with Kneeling Warrior in Gold Mount
3RD CENTURY B.C.
1 in. (5.24 grams, 25 mm).
Scarab bezel with carapace detailing and intaglio of a kneeling male nude wearing a helmet, holding a shield, sword and a spear; set into a later gold swivel ring; supplied with a museum-quality impression.
ProvenanceEnglish private collection.
Acquired on the English art market.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13110-248399.
See Boardman, J. and Vollenweider, M-L., Catalogue of the Engraved Gems and Finger Rings, I: Greek and Etruscan, Oxford, 1978, item 237; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 48.11.1.; Chadour, A.B. Rings. The Alice and Louis Koch Collection, volume I, Leeds, 1994, item 123 for intaglio.
FootnotesThe intaglio can depict Capaneus, a legendary, strong, skilled, but arrogant warrior. He was one of the Seven Against Thebes, who boasted that not even Zeus could stop him from scaling the city walls. However, as he climbed them, Zeus struck him down with a bolt of lightning, illustrating divine punishment for his hubris. Evadne, his wife, then threw herself onto the funerary pyre in her grief. The story of strength but excessive pride was reflected in Dante's Inferno, where Capaneus is in the seventh circle as a condemned blasphemer.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0115
Italic Banded Agate Scarab with Kneeling Warrior in Gold Mount
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,700
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Greek Silver Phalera with Dionysus
3rd-2nd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,560
Discoid in plan with returned rim, guilloche to the outer field and egg-and-dart to the dome; central bust of Dionysus modelled in high-relief with garland in his hair. 5.28 grams, 41 mm
Private collection, assembled in the 1950s-1970s, thence by descent. -
Greek Gold Ring with Rosettes
5th century B.C. or laterEstimate: £1,800 - 2,400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £900
Twisted hoop with granulated mounting lobes, swivel-mounted hollow-formed disc bezel with granule clusters to the rim, filigree and granule clusters to the obverse. 8.94 grams, 23.27 mm overall, 21.6x18.1 mm internal diameter (approximate size British P 1/2, USA 7 3/4, Europe 16.86, Japan 16)
Acquired on the UK art market 1971-1974. Private collection, London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13163-248089. -
Etruscan Bronze Statuette of a Draped Hero
4th-3rd century B.C.Estimate: £18,000 - 24,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £9,500
Modelled in the round, standing erect with right hand on his hip and left arm extending from the elbow resting on the left hip and with fingers curled to hold a staff or handle, wearing a loosely draped cloth over the left shoulder and drawn around the body to hang over the arms; ribbed cuffs to the boots; youthful face with tousled hair and slightly exaggerated lentoid eyes; C-shaped staple beneath the feet for attachment; supplied with a custom-made display stand. 506 grams total, 18.7 cm including stand
with Sotheby’s, Antiquities, London, 6 July 1995, no.130. Acquired by the present owner at the above sale. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12194-222321.
The statue was probably a cult offering and presents an archaic Etruscan hairstyle; it is likely to have been produced as a votive offering or for private lararia. His warrior status can be confirmed by his boots, typical of archaic-era Etruscan and Latin warriors.
